find a friend for the end
by the good old days
Summary: Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion. :: Complete.
1. Chapter 1

**find a friend for the end** – written by _itsallanoxymoron _for _thekidthatcould_

**Summary: **Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /Jausen/ The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion.

_Pairing:_ Jausen [JeremexKatey]; not necessarily OC's, as these "fictional characters" are entirely real

* * *

**K**atey Clausen's world ends not with a bang, but with a kiss.

**J**ereme Jackson's world does not end with a kiss, but with a bang.

* * *

**i. **_They just needed a push in the right direction._

* * *

**Act I**

**T**heir school is not located on the outskirts of the city, but rather right in the middle of it—overshadowed by Stark Tower and the city of gold itself. Overhills High School is located on the third and fourth floors—students complained about the view but the safety risks were less than what they could have been.

So when the alien army starts attacking, they are one of the first group of civilians to notice and evacuate. With such a large student body, however, it is easy to get lost.

Or run away, rather.

.

**Act II**

**"W**hy are we doing this, again?" asks Jereme Jackson, never one to instigate rebellion. He is the wiseguy, full of jokes and smiles and laughs, unlike his counterpart—Katey Clausen, with her fire and her passion and her hard shell.

"If I'm going to die, I'm going to be having fun," she says simply, her voice rising because there is pandemonium in the streets.

The pair escaped from the school easily. They merely took the elevator—because Rule 101 in Alien Invasion Safety Tips is: Use the stairs. A car explodes half a mile away from them.

"I love you," he says. She doesn't hear it.

.

**Act III**

**T**hey're at an arcade—it's not exactly Dave and Busters, not really high end or anything, but at this point who cares? At the rate things are going, they could be dead by morning.

Most of the stores are falling into ruin. Jereme displays bravado for Katey's sake but she is utterly unfazed.

They don't know the whole story, but apparently some guy who looks like Tom Hiddleston—who Katey has an _enormous _movie-star crush on which Jereme tries unrelentlessly to make everyone forget about—is trying to take over the world. He was wearing a funny costume in the photo Jereme saw, but the scepter looks cool enough. It's a typical Hollywood plot, and he thinks it's all a conspiracy anyway.

The two of them are playing ski ball because it's just the thing to do when there's a war raging and it's one of Katey's favorites, so it's automatically his, too. He lets her win by default.

"I think I love you," he says when they finish and aliens have found the place. She kisses him. Hard.

He takes that as: _It's about time._


	2. Chapter 2

**find a friend for the end** – written by _itsallanoxymoron _for _thekidthatcould_

**Summary: **Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /Jausen/ The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion.

_Pairing:_ Jausen [JeremexKatey]; not necessarily OC's, as these "fictional characters" are entirely real

* * *

**ii. **_People might just need a little old fashioned. _

* * *

**Act I**

**"W**e should go on a date," she announces, standing up from her bench.

He stares. "Why?" he asks. "We've done plenty of things together before."

"Because it's just the thing to do, of course!" Her voice is excited, joyful. "Besides, it's _proper_," she drips with sarcasm. It's his turn to laugh.

.

**Act II**

**T**he setting: McDonald's. (Leave it to the chain restaurants to still be open while the world is ending.) The cast: the lovebirds. Act Two. Action.

Jereme: You look cute eating chicken nuggets.

Katey: Thanks. You too.

Katey: Okay. Should this even count as a date?

Jereme: Of course it does. I spent a full five dollars on you. You're quite expensive, you know.

Katey: Shut up. You don't have to rub in how much money you have.

Jereme: This would be rubbing. (Pause.) Here. I got this for you. Do you like it?

Katey: Of course. I—thank you.

End.

.

**Act III**

**T**he new necklace adorns Katey's neck with a flourish. The four diamonds accent the one ruby in the middle, each of adequate size. The chain is silver and sturdy, but the glint hints that even it was expensive.

A stranger might assume that the jewelry means more than cold gems—they might not be able to fathom _what_, even.

(But here's a director's secret for you: the ruby is red, like passion, like the girl, and the diamonds are untarnished—like a strong family.)


	3. Chapter 3

**find a friend for the end** – written by _itsallanoxymoron _for _thekidthatcould_

**Summary: **Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /Jausen/ The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion.

_Pairing:_ Jausen [JeremexKatey]; not necessarily OC's, as these "fictional characters" are entirely real

* * *

**iii. **_I am burdened with glorious purpose. _

* * *

**Act I**

**T**hey're walking hand-in-hand in the middle of the street. "Hey, Kates," he says. She looks at him as if to say, _Yes, love?_ "If we get out alive, I want you to promise me something." He wishes she'd say _Anything _but she just looks at him expectantly, lips unmoving—far from a girl driven mad by love. "Marry me."

The words seem loud—louder than if he had shouted them. They fill spaces; take up volumes; personify even the _air _around them.

She says nothing—it's not a yes, but it's not a no either.

.

**Act II**

**T**he aliens might be funny to look at, Jereme thinks, if their fangs and claws weren't bared to gut you for dinner. He heard someone call them "Chitari"—he couldn't place the voice and it sounded like it came from several stories above, a shout—and Jereme isn't sure what it means but they have nothing else to go on, really.

Somehow, they've ended up in a toy store, rounded into a corner by the so-called Chitari. He keeps worrying about becoming a meal, but somehow Katey has slipped away in the confusion. She emerges now, two Nerf guns in each hand. Katey hands one to him, and each of the employees who were insane enough to not immediately run home.

"Water guns?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

She shrugs. "Gotta do some ass kicking before we die. Come on."

.

**Act III**

**I**n all truth, two children should not be capable of such violence—but in times such as these, who knows such a thing as a pacifistic nature?

Water seems to be an odd weakness for the Chitari—but they are humans, of Earth, and know nothing of such creatures. Children are fickle beings at that. The alien that Jereme fires at hisses in some foreign tongue. Normally, he would imitate the dialect awkwardly and mockingly. He instead blasts the Chitari with water and there is another hissing noise before the hole appears.

Someone blasts where he missed—the chest, where it can be assumed some sort of heart would be. "I'd go for the heart," the man—no, boy, he can't be but a few years older—says, grinning like this is the most fun he's had in years. He pauses and Jereme can barely make out the name tag—CHRIS. "Or the head. Right in between the eyes would be nice. If you can't aim, anywhere would be nice, actually. You can aim, can't you? That your girlfriend?" Chris nods over at Katey.

Jereme isn't even certain by this point, but he nods _yes _because the world is ending and the odds of them crossing paths again is so slim it's not even funny.

"Well, she's something, isn't she?" the boy muses, chuckling. "Could give me a run for my money, I s'ppose. Anyway, it was nice meeting you, bro. Gotta go meet up with my girl before she throws a fit worryin', y'know?"

Jereme really thinks they could have been good friends.


	4. Chapter 4

**find a friend for the end** – written by _itsallanoxymoron _for _thekidthatcould_

**Summary: **Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /Jausen/ The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion.

_Pairing:_ Jausen [JeremexKatey]; not necessarily OC's, as these "fictional characters" are entirely real

* * *

**iv. **_Superheroes? In New York? Give me a break. _

* * *

**Act I**

**S**omehow, when Katey Clausen pictured herself dying, it was not a mortifying annihilation by flesh-eating terrestrials. Rather, the scene painted itself as some sort of heroic sacrifice or straightforward slumber, which was child's play to the present.

The Chitari, with their hissing tongues and odd aroma—like a dumpster trying to be masked by roses alone, as though something could cleanse such a thing so foul—they grin evilly, some secret hidden behind the yellowish white.

.

**Act II**

**J**ereme Jackson watches the whole debacle.

Loki—the man, the Hiddleston twin, with his odd finery and slick hair—falls from the sky like the god which he, in fact, is. He hates how Loki seems like some fallen angel. He commands the Chitari with a simple flick of his wrist, and they cower away, off to wreak havoc upon some other place.

"Not this one," he claims. And then, lower, so that Jereme does not hear. "I shall not allow such a slaughter when the girl is on the cusp of becoming a woman. I am not so cruel." Then Loki touches her cheek briefly, with a surprising amount of tenderness considering his character. He vanishes.

And that is when the love of his life falls, breathless, to the floor.

.

**Act III**

**"O**h, I really don't know why you're making this guy out to be so great," he complains sullenly as he crosses his arms. "He isn't _really_ that great; for all we know, he could be trying to kill us all!"

"But not me," she insists. "Why not me? I was as good as dead before he found me!"

"Never," he insists. "I would have gotten to you."

And then he swoops down for a kiss.


	5. Chapter 5

**find a friend for the end** – written by _itsallanoxymoron _for _thekidthatcould_

**Summary: **Their world might very well be ending, but he finds ways to show that he'll always care anyways. /Jausen/ The lives of two civilians in NYC during Loki's invasion.

_Pairing:_ Jausen [JeremexKatey]; not necessarily OC's, as these "fictional characters" are entirely real

* * *

**v. **_I was a king!_

* * *

**Act I**

**B**ig explosions. Loud. A bang. The city is wide awake, pulsing with adreneline. And then—silence.

Finally won.

.

**Act II**

**T**he road to peace is a bumpy one. Jereme and Katey realize this when, a week later, she wakes up screaming.

Katey calls her boyfriend and speaks in hushed tones, for the hour is late. "Do you think this will ever stop?" one asks quietly.

Silence is their only answer.

.

**Act III**

**T**he nightmares—the dreams—they never seem to go away.

When you have witnessed what may have very well been the entire world ending, yours suddenly shifts. Katey realizes this now. It becomes easier to focus on the _how _and much harder to zone in on the future—on a life you may never have if such a thing were to occur again.

Trivial things do not matter. If you only get one life, then it does not do to focus on the past.

But it is also so very hard to move on from an event of this magnitude. She has seen people die, watched a city fall, numbly stared at the world on its' trembling knees.

And Jereme. A boy who she likes, whom she could learn to love, had asked her hand in marriage. Why didn't she want to die engaged? She is aware, however, that if he were to ask again—properly—she will not refuse this boy with a fragile heart.


End file.
